Page 4 - Dream 2047 August 2020

COVID-19 CORNER Dr Harsh Vardhan releases White Paper on Focused Interventions for Make in India: Post DCOVID-19 by TIFAC r Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Science & Technology, Health and Family Welfare and Earth Sciences on July 10, 2020 released a white paper on “Focused Interventions for ‘Make in India’: Post COVID-19” and “Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients: Status, by TIFAC presents a compelling map of high priority sectors, technologies, and strategies to fuel growth in the time of COVID-19 and immediately beyond.” Indigenous Indian COVID-19 vaccines in the global race to end the pandemic W Vaccine by Zydus Cadila the proverbial silver line in the dark clouds of COVID-19 appears at the horizon. The nod given by the Drug Controller General of India CDSCO (The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation) for the conduct of the human trial for the vaccines marks the beginning of the end. More than 140 candidate vaccines are under various stages of development. One of the leading candidates is AZD1222 developed by Jenner Institute of University of Oxford and licensed to AstraZeneca British- Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Cambridge, England. Parallelly, Indian institutions have also engaged in R&D for the development of vaccines in India. With the primary scientific inputs coming from ICMR’s Pune-based institution National Institute of Virology and Hyderabad- based CSIR institution Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, six Indian companies are working on a vaccine for COVID-19. IIT Mandi develops 98% efficient face masks from waste plastic bottles at nearly one tenth the cost Researchers at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi developed high-efficiency face masks out of waste plastic bottles. The PET bottles were successfully converted into a nanofibre membrane. This membrane can be layered with nylon on both sides to create the mask. Research scholars Ashish Kakoria and Sheshang Singh Chandel produced the mask under the guidance of Prof Sumit Sinha Ray. The nanofibre membrane is 250 times thinner than a human hair and can remove minute particles with 98% efficiency. AIIMS Delhi starts tele- consultation guidance to State doctors on COVID-19 clinical management T protocol for COVID-19. To strengthen Government of India’s efforts to reduce COVID mortality, a specialist team of doctorsfromAIIMS,NewDelhishall ith the announcement of COVAXIN by Bharat Biotech and ZyCov-D ele-consultation is a critical com- ponent of the clinical intervention Issues, Technology Readiness and Challenges”, prepared by Technology Information, Forecasting and Asses- sment Council (TIFAC), at Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi. Pointing out that “India has been largely successful in mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 so far”, Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “We got the opportunity to position ourselves as a global manufacturing hub with a big push under ‘Make In India’ with adoption of appropriate technology and policy reforms and focused thrust in crucial sectors.” The Minister said, “The current pandemic is global, but the solutions to the challenge should be local.” Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, DST, in his message, said, “The White Paper provide guidance on effective clinical management of COVID-19 patients in the ICUs of different State hospitals through tele/video consultation. These tele-consultation sessions for providing timely and expert guidance to the doctors in the States shall be conducted twice every week, on Tuesdays and Fridays. For more information on S&T Efforts in India on COVID-19 please visit https://vigyanprasar.gov.in/ covid19-newsletters/ Vigyan Samachar Team 4 dream 2047 / august 2020